How to check in online with TUI Airways

With TUI Airways, online check-in opens 48 hours before departure, or up to 14 days ahead if you've chosen or upgraded your seat. It closes one hour before the flight leaves, and you do it in Manage My Booking or in the TUI app.

Below we set out when the window opens for your own booking, what to have to hand, how the five steps go, and what's left to do once you're at the airport.

With TUI Airways the opening time moves with your seat, while the closing time stays where it is.

On most bookings online check-in opens 48 hours before departure. Choosing or upgrading your seat brings that forward to 14 days, and that covers Premium, Extra Legroom, Extra Space and Select Your Seat alike. Flights to Mexico and Jamaica go the other way: there the window doesn't open until 24 hours before departure.

Closing is one hour before the scheduled departure time, on the way out and on the way home. The return is a check-in of its own, so it needs doing again once its window opens, and it's easy to come home having forgotten.

Before you start, have the following to hand:

• your booking reference number;

• the surname of the lead passenger;

• your departure date.

Those are the three things you need to log in to Manage My Booking. Now that you have them, we can go through the five steps TUI sets out.

How to check in online with TUI Airways:

1. Go to Manage My Booking.

2. Enter your flight booking reference.

3. Enter the surname of the lead passenger.

4. Enter your departure date.

5. Select check-in.

Manage My Booking and the TUI app both take you through those steps, and what differs is what each one gives you afterwards. Both are set out below.

TUI Airways accepts your boarding pass either way, on your phone or on paper. If you print it, use A4 and make sure the printout is clear, with no rips or tears, and the barcode is easy to scan.

At the airport

With hand luggage only and the check-in done, you can head for security as soon as you arrive.

With bags to put in the hold, the self-service bag drop kiosks take them at Aberdeen, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Gatwick North and South, Glasgow, Leeds Bradford, Luton, Manchester Terminal 2 and Newcastle. They open at the same time as check-in for your flight.

Travelling together on one booking, only one of you needs to go to the bag drop, carrying all the boarding passes, all the passports and visas and all the bags. That doesn't apply for flights to the USA.

As for timing, TUI Airways advises using the check-in opening times as a guide even when you've checked in online: the desks open at least two and a half hours before a short or mid-haul flight, and three and a half hours before a long-haul one. Arriving earlier than that won't get you through any sooner.

You checked in in good time, you got to the gate when you were meant to, and your booking was confirmed. Even so, a delay, a cancellation or an overbooked flight can still get in the way of your plans.

If that happens and the airline is responsible, UK261 entitles you to compensation of up to £520 per passenger, depending on how far you were due to fly. The rules cover every flight departing from a UK airport, whichever airline you're travelling with.

If your TUI Airways flight departs from an airport in the EU, the equivalent European rules apply instead, under Regulation EC 261/2004.

Being turned away at the gate is covered too: our guide to denied boarding sets out where you stand. And to see what you may be owed for your own flight, start with our TUI Airways compensation page.

Keeping track of your TUI Airways flight

With check-in out of the way, all that's left is the wait. It's well worth keeping an eye on your flight status in the meantime, particularly if you have a connection to make or someone meeting you at the other end.

TUI Airways says that if a flight is running late, it will let you know as soon as it can, by text and by email. You can also look the flight up yourself on TUI's live departures and arrivals page.

You could also use the free AirHelp app, which does one thing more: if your flight is delayed by more than 3 hours, is cancelled, or you're denied boarding, the app automatically checks whether you're entitled to compensation under UK261/EC 261 and lets you know.

With the AirHelp app you can:

• receive real-time notifications about delays, cancellations, gate changes and baggage reclaim;

• scan your boarding pass to add your flight quickly;

• share your flight status with whoever is picking you up;

• automatically check whether a disruption entitles you to compensation of up to £520;

• start your compensation claim straight from the app, with no paperwork.

The app is free and available on iOS and Android.